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Istanbul airport bomber thought killed in Georgia
 [Reuters] A former Islamic State warlord suspected of masterminding a bloody attack on Istanbul airport in 2016 is believed to have been killed during a special operation in Georgia last week, three sources familiar with the case said. Akhmed Chatayev, an ethnic Chechen, is likely to have lost his life during a police operation against a group of armed men on the outskirts of Tbilisi last week, the sources said. One Georgian special forces serviceman and three members of the armed group were killed in the operation. Four police officers were injured and one member of the group was arrested during the 20-hour operation at the apartment block where the group was hiding. Nino Giorgobiani, deputy chief of the state security service, said that the final conclusions about the slain militant's identity would be reached after experts had completed their work and “the relevant United States agencies (had) joined the investigation.” "According to my information, Chatayev was there ... He blew himself up,” said one of the sources. Chatayev was named by Turkish media and a U.S. congressman as the mastermind of the suicide bombing of Istanbul airport in 2016 which killed 45 people. His involvement has not been confirmed by Turkish officials. A veteran of Chechnya's conflict with Moscow during which he lost an arm, he lived in Georgia’s Pankisi Gorge, a remote area populated largely by people from the Kist community, ethnic Chechens who came to mainly Christian Georgia in the 1800s. When Chechnya rose up in rebellion after the collapse of the Soviet Union, the Kist community were drawn in. Thousands of refugees arrived from Chechnya, and some militants used the gorge to reassemble and prepare new attacks. Chatayev was injured and arrested in Georgia in August 2012 after a clash between the Georgian police and a group of rebels, who were allegedly trying to cross the Georgian-Russian border and move to Dagestan. He was released on bail and Georgian prosecutors dropped the case against him, citing a lack of evidence. After his release, Chatayev left Georgia, saying he intended to go to Austria to recover. By 2015, he had moved to Islamic State-controlled areas in Syria and Iraq. Posted by: ryuge 2017-11-30 |
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